# The Ghent Altarpiece: Singing Angels [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [EYCK, Jan van]() - Date: 1401-1450 - Technique: Oil on wood, 164,5 x 71,5 cm ## Commentary The two panels depicting the angels playing music and singing are the most famous details of the altar-piece. Although it has been proposed that they were originally designed to be parts of an organ housing, they clearly fit into the iconographic concept. Connected with the trio of God the Father, surrounded by the Virgin Mary and St John the Baptist, these wingless angels belong to the "heavenly domain", and they not only sing the praises of the Lord but also invoke the music of the spheres. At the same time, their presence is connected to the events depicted in the lower part of the panels: the use of identical sky background proves this. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 9 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/15\_cent/josquin\_motet1.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Josquin Desprez: In principio erat verbum, motet</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [Annunciation]() - [Annunciation]() - [Crucifixion]() - [Diptych]() - [Last Judgment]() - [Madonna and Child at the Fountain]() - [Madonna in the Church \(detail\)]() - [Madonna in the Church]() - [Madonna with the Child Reading]() - [Man in a Turban \(detail\)]() - [Man in a Turban]() - [Portrait of a Goldsmith \(Man with Ring\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()